The present invention relates to an electrical connector assembly, and more specifically to an electrical connector assembly and female connector for high-speed signal transmission used in high-speed digital image transmission.
Male connectors having a board in an electrical connector are known. The contact mechanism of the male connector disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Kokai No. H1-150379 is shown in FIG. 16 as one example of such a male connector. In this male connector 200, a plurality of conductive traces are disposed at a specified spacing on both sides of a insulative board 202, and are thus formed as contacts 204 of the male connector 200. These contacts 204 are disposed on both sides and are oriented opposite each other.
A female connector equipped with a shielding shell is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Kokai No. S63-172071. This shielding shell is formed by being bent from a single metal plate, and is constructed from a shell part that is capped over the front surface of the housing. A bent part is bent to the rear from this shell part, and a retention leg part used for attachment to the board, which is further bent downward from the bent part. An integral shield (electromagnetic shield) is formed as a result of contact with the shield of a mating connector by the shell part, and grounding to the board via the bent part and retention leg part.
A female connector equipped with a similar shielding shell is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. H10-511211. This female connector has a metal shell which contacts a mating connector, and a separate grounding member which electrically contacts this metal shell. This connector is constructed so that grounding to the board is accomplished by soldering the grounding member to the board.
In the conventional male connector as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Kokai No. H1-150379, no consideration is given to crosstalk between the transmission paths formed by the conductive patterns. Accordingly, the transmitted signals are easily affected by such crosstalk. Furthermore, in cases where several of these conductive traces are used for power, the additional noise is generated.
Although the shielding shell of the female connector disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Kokai No. S63-172071 is integrally formed by being stamped and bent from a single metal plate, the distance from the contact section the retention leg that is grounded to the board is long. Accordingly, the inductance of the grounding path is large, further increasing the noise in the system.
Furthermore, the shielding shell of the female connector disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. H10-511211 is constructed from two parts, which is undesirable from a manufacturing perspective. It is desirable to reduce the number of parts required as well as to shorten the ground path allowing for high speed signal transmission.
The present invention was devised in light of these problems. An object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector assembly which prevents crosstalk and is suitable for high-speed transmission.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector assembly which is inexpensive, and has improved impedance matching capabilities.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a female connector having a ground connection that is suitable for high-speed signal transmission, and in which the number of parts required is also small.
The electrical connector assembly of the present invention is characterized by the fact that in an electrical connector assembly which is equipped with a housing, a plate-form insulating body which is held in the above-mentioned housing, and in which a plurality of conductive pads that contact mating contacts are formed on both sides, and cables which are connected to the above-mentioned conductive pads, [each of] the above-mentioned cables has a + signal wire and xe2x88x92 signal wire used for differential transmission, and a ground wire, the above-mentioned + signal wire and xe2x88x92 signal wire [of each cable] are connected to adjacent conductive pads on one side of the above-mentioned insulating body, while the above-mentioned ground wire is connected to a conductive pad on the other side [of the insulating body] which is positioned between the above-mentioned conductive pads to which the above-mentioned + signal wire and xe2x88x92 signal wire are respectively connected, and the above-mentioned conductive pads are disposed so that the above-mentioned conductive pads to which the above-mentioned + signal wires or xe2x88x92 signal wires are connected and conductive pads to which signal wires of the same phase belonging to other adjacent cables are connected are located in closest proximity to each other.
Furthermore, the electrical connector assembly of the present invention may be constructed so that conductive pads for power supply use are disposed to the outside of the rows of the conductive pads for signal use disposed on the insulating body. In this case, it is desirable that the conductive pads used for grounding of the power supply be disposed on the side of the conductive pads used for signals, and that the conductive pads on the active wire side be disposed to the outside of the conductive pads used for grounding. Furthermore, it is desirable that conductive pads used for the power supply be disposed on both sides of the rows of conductive pads used for signals.